For placements longer than 24 weeks (six months), please e-mail us for the cost of the placement.

Paying Your Deposit and Balance
Once you have received and accepted an offer of a placement (please read the section What Happens Next on The Application Process page), you will be required to pay the non-refundable deposit of GB£300 to secure your place. The balance for the period of your stay is payable at least four weeks before departure. If your departure is within four weeks of acceptance, then the total figure is payable immediately. Once we receive a confirmed itinerary, we will inform our Malawian Managers and Coordinators.

You are solely responsible for paying the deposit and balance for your placement — we do not agree with volunteers raising money from family and friends to pay for the cost of their placement, and you should not use your JustGiving fundraising page for this purpose. However, we do encourage you to raise additional funds for RIPPLE Africa, both before and after your placement — please read the section Fundraising and Donations on The Application Process page.

IMPORTANT! Refund Policy
The deposit of GB£300 is non-refundable. As it is very difficult for us to fill volunteer places at short notice if someone cancels prior to starting their placement or leaves the programme early, we require a 12-week notice period, and we can only refund any money already paid in excess of 12 weeks from cancellation of, or departure from, the volunteer placement. For example, if your placement is for 24 weeks and you decide to leave after eight weeks, you would be entitled to a refund equivalent to the cost of the last four weeks of your placement period (i.e. placement length of 24 weeks minus 8 weeks spent at Mwaya Beach minus 12 weeks notice period = 4 weeks). Please remember that nearly all of the money you pay for your placement goes directly towards running our charitable projects in Malawi. Refunds may be paid in exceptional circumstances at the discretion of the Directors of RIPPLE Africa.

Volunteer Accommodation
This comprises five lovely beach chalets with two to three people sharing, communal hot and cold showers, and toilets. Harry and Agnes, the cooks, prepare the evening meals and wash up. Martha and Gedess wash all the clothes and bed linen, and clean the showers and toilets. The property, which is located right on the beach, and the local area are really beautiful. For more information about Mwaya Beach, please click here.

Orientation and Volunteering
When you reach Mwaya Beach, Malawi, you will be introduced to the RIPPLE Africa staff and volunteers. Joey (Manager at Mwaya and Building Projects Manager) and Morton (Volunteer Projects Manager) will provide an introduction to Mwaya, the projects and the volunteering opportunities. Although there will be guidelines and some structure, there is a high degree of flexibility, and we encourage individual volunteers to use their initiative.

What Does the Money Pay For?
You will be responsible for the costs involved in getting to Mwaya (i.e. flights, in-country transport, etc.). The payment to RIPPLE Africa pays for your accommodation and the services provided at Mwaya Beach. The balance is used to fund the projects run by RIPPLE Africa, together with paying for approximately 120 Malawian staff, and it is the charity’s main source of funding — the money is used carefully and effectively to improve the lives of and opportunities for the local community. You will be responsible for food costs, which are operated through a volunteer “kitty”. It would be best to allow GB£20 or US$30 per week for living at Mwaya Beach plus an additional GB£10-GB£30 or US$15-US$45 per week for trips during your stay, local transport costs, and other personal expenses (e.g. buying curios, airtime for phone calls and internet, etc.).

Extra Costs, Flights, etc.
You should allow for the following costs — but shop around:

Cancellation
Please see our Refund Policy above.